davejenbarnes

Every once in awhile something (like finding a machacado con huevo taco here in Austin or remembering the $450/mo rent for 1100 sq. feet) reminds me of when we lived in Rio Grande City that *almost* makes me wish we still lived there.

I headed to our small group last night minus the boys.  James and Lowell seem to be coming down with something so they stayed home with Dave.  It was more important for them to get a full nights’ rest.  I know that Lowell needed his rest because he took 2 naps on me in the rocking chair yesterday and the night before.  Falling asleep on a parent on the rocking chair is usually an honor he reserves for Daddy, not me, so I know know know he needed that rest.

Anyhow, back to the being by myself part.  No, let me back up a little.  David fixed a roast in the crock-pot yesterday.  I normally eat my roast with plain ketchup.  It’s always been good enough for me.  Ketchup wouldn’t do last night.  Nope, not after Amy fed me a roast beef sandwich on Friday with Rudy’s BBQ sause.  Ketchup will not do any longer.

But we didn’t have any Rudy’s BBQ sause.  No sirree.

So, as I’ve mentioned twice already, I was by myself last night.  Amy’s house, where small group is hosted, is about halfway between us and a Rudy’s so I went ahead and took the drive out to Rudy’s and walked in a few minutes before they closed and grabbed a big bottle of that delicious sauce and proceeded down the queue to the register but not before I grabbed two 1-liter glass bottles of Mexican Coca-Cola.  If you’ve never had a coke from Mexico, you should.

Now I know people who live for a Dublin Dr Pepper and this is along the same lines as that.  Dublin Dr Pepper is formulated with sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup and it makes it That. Much. Better.  Same deal with the Mexican cokes.  Sugar.  Pure Sugar.  It makes it oh, oh, so gooood.  And they’re usually found in tall skinny glass bottles.

When we lived in Rio Grande City, we had a big plastic soda bottle case.  We would head over the border every other week or so to the coca bottling plant in Miguel Aléman and get a case of full coke bottles for, like, no kidding, $4 — that’s 24 liters of joy for under $5.  The cokes from Rudy’s were $2.59 each so I paid for 2 what I used to pay for 2 DOZEN.  They’re not worth it for that amount of money on a regular basis, but it helped justify a 9:20 pm run to Rudy’s 18 miles away, and… I know David and I each got our $2.59 worth of enjoyment out of them.  Mmmmmm

And I thought pregnancy cravings were strange.  Here are my boys dipping Zestas into chocolate pudding, per their Daddy’s suggestion.  I have three veery strange men in my life.

Okay, I’ll do it again, second week in a row. The meatballs got pushed back a few days cuz we couldn’t possibly get home to cook them in time after going to walk through a house over in Cedar Park, so we *gasp* ate out instead.

• Monday - Sweet-n-Sour Meatballs, rice, carrot sticks, pudding
• Tuesday - Crock Pot Ribs, potato salad, Ranch Style beans (from a can), banana pudding
• Wednesday - Hamburger Helper and some frozen veggies
• Thursday, Friday, Saturday - eating out (OUCH!$$$) on the Riverwalk, somewhere, who knows…
• Sunday - We’ll figure it out when we get closer…

I came across this website a long time ago and thought it was a good idea; we were already doing it, I just didn’t share it with the rest of the world. I keep our menu plan on iCal and it’s easy to recycle a week from earlier in the year which makes planning a weeks’ meals all the more simple. Not to mention quick. I like that iCal has a list printing option so I can get the weeks’ worth of meals down half a sheet of paper and write out the grocery list on the other half. Makes shopping easier, too.

Well, I think I’ll start posting our dinner menu when I remember it. What I like about planning a menu a week at a time is that we can swap any of the days and still have a meal to make later. For example, I’m betting we swap Tuesday and Friday because David will be home sooner on Tuesday than he is on Friday and the meatballs make better leftovers than tuna helper. So without any further ado, here is my Menu Monday post -

• Monday: Grilled Teryiaki Skewers with fried rice and steamed broccoli
• Tuesday: Tuna Helper with peas, topped with cheese and crushed goldfish crackers
• Wednesday: Greek Chicken and Onion Kabobs, rice-a-roni and salad
• Thursday: Fishsticks and Rice with mixed veggies
• Friday: Sweet-N-Sour meatballs on rice, with carrot sticks and pudding
• Saturday: Homemade pizza (canadian bacon and pineapple)
• Sunday: Italian sausage spaghetti with garlic bread, salad

I may look for some of these recipes online but I already have them all in our “Tried and Liked” notebook. The teriyaki skewers are MY FAVORITE ALL TIME meal and we’re making them for some friends as well as their oven started emitting carbon monoxide and is being replaced.

I was shopping today with a friend and her triplets (Costco!) and came across a big ol bag of Dried Plums. Huh? Since when were prunes called “dried plums?” I did a google search and it turns out that I’m about eight years behind. Imagine that. I love prunes but don’t think I like the name change to dried plums because I detest plums. Ick. Guess I gotta buy dried plums to get my prunes, but we’ll still call ‘em prunes.

Dave fixed Chicken-n-dumplings last night.  From scratch.  I wish I’d taken a picture, but it would have looked exactly like theirs.  This was delicious!  DELICIOUS.  This is a recipe we are definitely keeping in our repertoire.

On Wednesday, David and I will have been married for eight years. Because we will be, oh, a couple thousand miles apart on our actual anniversary, we celebrated last night with a very relaxing and delicious dinner at Chez Zee and a stroll through the Apple Store in The Domain.

Dinner was so relaxing, not having to cut up somebody’s food into tiny bits or wipe a baby’s face every other bite. We actually got to enjoy an appetizer, some wine, great meals, and desserts without ever having to tell another soul to turn around and sit down the right way or to sign “more” or “all done!” I expected the conversation to revolve around the boys but it really didn’t. We were able to reconnect to our goals as a couple and recognize some of the things we want to be better at as parents, spouses, and people in general. I’m so excited to see where God takes us in the next eight years!

Of course, the evening couldn’t end without a trip to the Apple store. We didn’t have kids with us! David picked up the new OS for our g5 and I was flabberghasted at the latest iProducts (iPhone, iPod, etc) and the new keyboard. Wow. I LOVE that keyboard, though it will be exciting when Apple finally comes out with an Apple-branded touch-keyboard.